Oral delivery of medications is one of the most frequent techniques utilized for delivering medication to the body. One of the most popular delivery mechanisms is the capsule. The background of U.S. Pat. No. 8,361,497 issued to Miller provides a detailed description into the history and present techniques for capsule manufacture and is hereby incorporated by reference.
Capsules containing medication for oral intake are usually swallowed for delivery of the medication to the stomach, where the capsule dissolves within 20 to 30 minutes and the medication is absorbed into the bloodstream.
With respect to capsular delivery of liquid medication such as Nfedipine for treatment of of various cardio-vascular conditions, a 20 to 30 minute wait time until absorption into the blood stream is not acceptable for particularly acute coronary conditions.
One example of a method of sublingual delivery of liquid medication contained in a capsule is U.S. Pat. No. 9,114,090 issued to Busiashvili which describes a capsular design and medication discharge from the capsule onto the sublingual area of a patient.
Another example of a device for oral delivery of liquid medication from a capsule is U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,915 issued to Miller et al. where a gel cap is punctured and the liquid contained within gravitates to a pierced nipple for subsequent oral delivery.
Another known delivery mechanism is by spray application of the medication onto the sublingual area. However, with spray application there is no limit upon the maximal amount of liquid medication delivered. In other words, a patient can repeatedly spray doses thus potentially overmedicating the condition.
For situations in which the patient or user is dealing with an acute condition such as an acute coronary insufficiency, a heart attack, hypertensive crisis or arrhythmia and for which a medication, such as Nifedipine, Nitroglycerin or others are proscribed, the user is likely to take more medication than necessary or maximally allowed. The higher the dose of a given medication as a bolus, or provided instantly, the higher the risk of cardiovascular collapse, syncope or death. Accordingly, there is a need for a device or method to apply the medication, such as Nitroglycerin or Nifedipine, incrementally, and limit the total amount of medication, particularly in medical emergencies for most patients.